Multidimensional crossword game and puzzle

ABSTRACT

A multidimensional crossword game or puzzle has three or four functional dimensions, two physical and one or two representational, laid out on a planar board. Rules of play are applied on a two dimensional array of boards to achieve this multidimensional effect. Completion of a legal word can occur in any one of the three or four dimensions. Rules of the game may require that after the first word is played, subsequent words must contain at least one letter from a previously played word. Crossword puzzle rules and conventions can be similar to existing puzzles. Vertical stacking of pieces on one or more cells can be used to create the effect of an additional dimension on these boards.

This application claims the benefit of the priority of U.S. provisional application 61/220,903, filed Jun. 26, 2009, which is incorporated herein in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

Crossword puzzles are ubiquitous in alphabet-based languages. In this well known puzzle type, words are placed “crosswise” with respect to other words (running sideways or running downwards), so that each word has the same letter in a given cell as the word it is crossing. Clues are used to inspire players in their search for words that fit the spaces provided and cross other words.

Crosswords can also be played as competitive letter placement games, in which players compete to complete words, and thereby score points. A well known form of such a crossword game is the Scrabble® crossword game, and there are other forms of crossword play. Details of the Scrabble-type game, and on some of its variants, can be found on Wikipedia. The generic term “crossword game” was used on early and current versions of Scrabble, and on other related games such as “Keyword”, an early Parker Bros. variant. An expired patent (U.S. Pat. No. 2,752,158) by James and Helen Brunot, early pioneers in this type of game, describes some of the feature of the present game, including the “double” and “triple” letter spaces. “Crossword game” will be used herein as a generic term for such games.

In crossword games, players may gain points for the letter values of words completed or expanded, and extra points may be awarded for playing on bonus spaces, while points may be deducted (or given to a winner) when players are left holding letter tiles at the end of the game. There are numerous variants, besides those mentioned above. A currently distributed game, played without a board, is called “Bananagrams”™, and is similar to one form of a game called “Speed Scrabble”, not requiring a physical board (e.g. U.S. Pat. No. 4,690,410, Berton). Players play their tiles in free-form rectangular crossing patterns, and freely rearrange them to make additional words. When one player uses all his tiles, he calls out to have players pick another tile. This continues until all tiles have been drawn.

There are numerous other variants on crossword games. In the context of the present invention, versions of crossword games that have more than two dimensions in which to play are of interest. Various partial and full three dimensional versions of crossword games have been described, for example in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,776,597, 5,312,112, 5,702,105 and 5,779,943. One commercially available form of crosswords in three dimensions is called “Upwords™”. In each of these games, the third dimension is a real, physical dimension (upward, by stacking pieces during play on a conventional two-dimensional board), and not one of the representational dimensions of the present invention. The pattern and strategy of play in these games is somewhat different from the ordinary crossword games. A different form of crosswords is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,062,978, in which a conventional two-dimensional crosswords game or puzzle is played on the surfaces of a cube. The game board is still two-dimensional, being the surface of the three-dimensional object; it is the equivalent of connecting the edges of a conventional board.

A four-dimensional form of the traditional game known as Tic-Tac-Toe has been previously described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,254,098, which also uses representational dimensions. However, it is not a crossword game or puzzle, and the rules of play are quite different. Moreover, the game is played with two types of counters, like conventional tic-tac-toe.

There are many players of conventional crossword games and puzzles, and there is ongoing interest in new games in these categories. New, multidimensional forms of crossword games and puzzles are described herein, with simple rules, which use representational dimensions to alter the character of play. Physical stacking of pieces may be incorporated into the games of the invention, but is not required. The novel multi-dimensional crossword games and puzzles of the invention cannot be played without the use of representational dimensions, as described herein.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

New forms of crosswords are described herein. “Crosswords” is used herein, unless otherwise modified, to include both crossword games and crossword puzzles. New forms of crosswords and multidimensional boards for the play of such crosswords are described. In this invention, “multidimensional” is used to describe boards having at least three or four functional dimensions, laid out in two physical dimensions. The crosswords puzzle or game is played by placing one of the letters of an alphabet (or functional equivalents in non-alphabetic written languages) on cells or other loci of the board. The letters are placed in straight lines in one of the dimensions of the board. In preferred embodiments, lines must result from playing at least one tile, to form words having two or more letters, and must form an acceptable word. Letter placement can be physical, for example by placement of lettered tiles or other tokens, or by writing, or can be via an optical or electronic display.

As a puzzle, the multidimensional format can be used for preparing crossword puzzles, so that a given space can be part of three or four words, each in a different dimension. Three or four sets of definitions are provided, in contrast to the usual two. As a competitive letter-placement game, the rules can be similar to known crossword placement games, but with additional dimensions. Vertical stacking can be employed in any of these crosswords to allow the use of longer words in relatively small arrays.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 shows a four dimensional crossword game layout of the invention, having 5×5 spaces in each conventional board and 5×5 boards in the array of this layout, and also shows part of a crossword game played thereon.

FIG. 2 shows a simple crossword puzzle of the invention, after completion.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

“Letter” as used herein will designate conventional letters, such as these found in English and many other languages, and may also include symbols denoting syllables (consonant and vowel combinations) such as those used in Japanese ‘kana, or in Hindi, or in other scripts. “Playing” or “placement” of letters is used broadly to include any method which results in a particular cell displaying a particular letter (or group of letters).

Letters are played on or into individual cells, also called “spaces”. Placement or playing includes both physical methods, such as placement of tiles, or marking with a pen or pencil, and electronic methods, including without limitation optical projection of letters, and electronic display of letters on screens or other surfaces, whether driven by local sources or provided over a communications link. The playing surface is described below as an array of boards, and also as a “layout”. The entire playing surface may sometimes be referred to as a “board”, short for “playing board”. “Crossword” or “crosswords”, when used alone, may be used herein as a generic term encompassing all crossword-based games (i.e. games involving the right-angle crossing of words at letters common to both words), whether the games are single-player puzzles or competitive games.

The dimensions of the board may be designated in various ways. One mode, used for convenience herein, is to name the two physical dimensions “across” and “down”, as commonly done in conventional crossword puzzles. Or, E-W (east-west) and N-S (north-south) can be used to name the physical dimensions. The representational dimensions are sometimes distinguished herein as “away” (implicitly E-W in three or four dimensions) and “beyond”. Other designation patterns for the physical or representational dimensions are possible in English or in other languages.

The present invention describes a new family of crosswords (crossword games and puzzles), in which play is in some aspects similar to a conventional crossword game, such as Scrabble® or similar conventional board game variants, or to a standard crossword puzzle, but in which a multidimensional layout allows play in three or four dimensions, or five in versions allowing stacking. A particular feature of this type of multidimensional layout is that the extra “dimensions” beyond two (or three, with stacking) can be characterized as being representational (or “formal” or “functional”), rather than physical.

To achieve this, a basic board is made, which for example may be, for example, a 4×6 grid of spaces or cells into which letters can be placed or played, for example by writing, projection, or display. Then, multiple copies of the basic board are placed in one or more rows in an array or playing board. The array may be in one or two dimensions. (Alternatively, the boards could be one dimensional and arrayed in a two-dimensional array, but this is less preferred.) A two dimensional array, having a total of four dimensions. is shown in FIG. 1, and a two dimensional array with three total dimensions is shown in FIG. 2.

In a one-dimensional array of boards, such as FIG. 2, the array is made of a line of boards, printed on or projected onto (or displayed by or affixed to or otherwise expressed in) a layout—the actual physical or electronic game-board. The array may be viewed as having two dimensions in each board and a third dimension running in the row of boards. For example, one could envisage the boards of the row being stacked up vertically, creating a physical three dimensional game board disposed in three physical dimensions. Once this is visualized, it becomes clear that this three-dimensional stack can be represented conveniently as an array (here, a line) of two dimensional boards. This creates a third dimension for play (“across”), in addition to the two conventional dimensions in each board (“across” and “down”). This kind of third dimension is what is referred to as a “representational” dimension herein.

For the purposes of the present invention, play in such an array is restricted to “straight” lines. To form a word by letter placement, the letters must lie in only one dimension—either “across” or “down” on one board, or lying in the “same” cell (for example, the upper left corner) in contiguous boards. As in conventional crossword games and puzzles, in a preferred version of the rules “diagonal” word formation in the game of the invention is excluded, in each of the several dimensions.

By a similar process, a square or rectangular two-dimensional array of boards can be created, which may, by extension, be treated as having four dimensions, even though there is no direct physical analog for a fourth dimension. Each of the rows of boards (North-South [NS] or East-West [EW]) represents a three dimensional board exactly as described above. The fourth dimension can be viewed as linking individual boards to both the NS and the EW rows in which they are present.

In conventional crosswords, each cell is the intersection of two lines of cells. A “word” is then a straight line of letters that is bounded at each end by spaces or lines, or by edges of boards in the array. (The validity of a word is determined by consultation of an accepted dictionary, or other rule of the particular game). The word can be in any perceptible form, including without limitation written, placed, projected or displayed letters, or as tiles bearing letters.

In three or four dimensional crosswords, the same type of formulation can be obtained by suitable rules. On a three dimensional board, each space on the board lies at the intersection of three lines of spaces, and likewise each space on a four dimensional board lies at the intersection of four lines of spaces. Words are formed along a single line, lying in one of the three or four dimensions, and are bounded by edges, lines or vacant cells. In the puzzle form, as in conventional crossword puzzles, it is convenient to color, hatch or otherwise mark spaces to be left empty. Also, it is possible by convention to terminate words with lines, or changes in color or pattern, rather than with empty spaces, as is sometimes done with conventional crosswords. In either puzzle or game form, it is possible to identify particular cells as having special values, such as additional points.

In any of these versions of a crosswords game, an additional dimension can be obtained by stacking pieces on each other. A basic form of stacking is found in Upwards™ crosswords, where sequential additions are played on top of previously played words to form new words. A preferred and different type of stacking is used in the present invention to allow formation of longer words—for example, six to ten letters, or more—in an array having relatively short rows.

As can be seen in FIG. 1, even limiting the number of spaces on an individual board to a relatively small number, such as 5 spaces in a row, or 25 spaces on a board, leads to a large number of spaces in a symmetrical multidimensional array—625 in a 5×5×5×5 array. In contrast, the conventional Scrabble® crossword game generally uses boards of 15×15 or 21×21 spaces, having 225 or 441 total spaces, respectively. Symmetric multidimensional game boards or puzzles are clearly less practical with such large numbers of cells—15 or 21 in 4 dimensions—since total cell counts would be very high, in the range of 50,000 to 200,000 cells. On the other hand, there is virtue in having the ability to make at least some words longer than 5 letters.

One method to retain playability and also longer words is the use of different lengths in the various dimensions. For instance, individual boards could be 6×5 cells (rather than 5×5), and the number of boards in the array could be in the range of 3×4 to 3×8 or 4×7, giving a total of cells in the array of 360 to 840.

Another method to allow longer words in compact boards is to have special cells or lines of cells, where additional letters can be places by stacking. For instance, “instance” could be placed into a 5-cell row (in any dimension) as I-N-(STAN)-C_E, where the (STAN) is a stack of 4 letter tiles stacked vertically in the center cell of the row. The special cells where multiples could be placed can be designated; or, the ability to stack within a cell may be allowed to inhere in any cell. The number of pieces in a stack may be limited, or not. In one version, subsequent words crossing the same cell would have to treat the cell as having the same set of letters, and preferably requiring the same order. Alternatively, only the topmost, exposed letter would count in subsequent plays.

Arrays having stackable cells can be dramatically smaller. For example, an array of 3×3 boards each having 3×3 cells could have such stackability, wherein the center lines of cells of certain boards are stackable. For example the “middle” boards in each array dimension could have central stackable rows running towards the center board of the array, where center rows in both physical dimensions could be stackable. This reduces the total number of cells to 81, but allows longer words; play could be quick without being reduced to monosyllables. Alternatively, a 4×4 array of 4×4 cell boards would have 256 total cells in 16 boards, and a relatively small number of stackable cells—for example in the range of 16 to 32—would allow large words while keeping playing time comparable with standard crossword games.

Stacks may be treated as either a physical or a representational dimension—in which case there may be five dimensions in the crosswords of the invention—or may simply be treated as an extra feature of the crosswords of the invention.

Multidimensional play An example of a four dimensional layout, suitable for a competitive crossword game, is shown in FIG. 1. In this example, the boards are each 5×5 spaces, arranged in two dimensions. The boards, in rows of five in this example, form a two dimensional array. The numbers of boards and of spaces are exemplary only, and the number of boards or of spaces in a row in a board may be any integer, and may be the same or different in any of the four dimensions. For example, the boards could be 3×6 spaces (“across” and “down”), and the array could have 5 boards in one array direction and 4 in the other array direction (“away” and “beyond”).

In the example, no specific values are assigned to cells. Thus, the score for a letter played in a cell would not vary according to which cell it was played in. However, the score for a letter played could depend on which letter it was, with some letters being worth more than others, as in some (but not all) conventional crossword games.

Alternatively, the values assigned to particular cells could vary, so that extra points would be added for play in a particular cell, or the value of a played piece might be multiplied, or the value of an entire word might be multiplied or added to. Such features are found in current crossword games. Any of these could be combined with variable letter value, as in many current crossword games.

A partially-completed game is shown in FIG. 1. Play started in the center board of the array, with “carat” (down), followed by “lace” and “water” (across). This play uses two physical dimensions—“across” and “down”. Then a third dimension (“away”) is opened up with “bacon” (left to right in the center row of boards), making the “c” in the center board part of three different words. “Label” is played in the fourth dimension (“beyond”) (down in the center row of boards), as are “call”, “named”, “cower”, and “row”. “Renew” connects the last two, in the across dimension. “Named” also formed “in” and “ma” when it was played. “Emit” (across) is formed from the “e” of “named”, and that move also forms “am” and “to”.

However, note that in a preferred version of the rules, the “i” or “t” of “emit”, unlike the “o” of “row”, does not interact with the “e” or “r” of “water” (or the “e” or “w” of “renew”). More generally, in a preferred rule, cells on a particular board only interact (i.e., become part of words) with cognate cells on vertically or horizontally adjacent boards. With respect to a particular cell, a cognate cell, on another board of the array, occupies the same space, in terms of local across/down coordinates in the board, as does the reference space—for example, “second row down, fourth cell across”.

Another way to phrase this rule is to say that placed letters which are not adjacent in one dimension are not connected to each other in that dimension. (No diagonals of any sort are functional in connections between letters.) This rule is preferred for simplicity and transparency of play.

The letters in the illustrations may be viewed as representing depictions of tiles bearing letters. Letter tiles are convenient, and are a preferred mode for ordinary manual play. However, manual play could also be on a piece of paper, with an array of boards printed on it, and letters written in with pen or pencil, or on a grid imprinted or projected on an erasable board. In such a game, means for selection of random letters to be written in could be provided.

Play can also be on an electronic device, and in that case competition can be local (e.g. computer or hand-held device) or remote (for example, over the internet.) A dedicated device could have a tangible layout and display letters electronically or optically, or everything could be displayed, for example on an electronic screen or display. (For example, electronic forms of Scrabble® crossword game are known, which play on personal computers.) Arrays could also be projected onto a screen or other surface, and likewise played letters could be projected. Combinations are possible, for example with physical letter tiles played on an electronically projected array of boards. Such hybrids could allow for variation in the board during play, for example in response to random influences, or to options obtained by players in the course of play, or by luck.

In general, any effective means of making a board visible, and any effective means of displaying letters as they are played, are suitable for use in the game of the invention. In electronic versions, means of randomly supplying letters from a pool composed of given numbers of the various letters may be supplied.

Because the maximum length of words will normally be smaller in a 3 or 4 dimensional game than in a conventional crossword game having a similar number of total spaces, the preferred relative frequencies of letters supplied with a set (physically, or as an electronic setting) may be different than those supplied with a conventional crossword game. However, to the extent that players adapt their strategy to the known distribution of letter tiles, the differences in letter distribution between conventional two-dimensional and multidimensional crossword games may not be significant.

In most current two-dimensional crossword games, and in physical three dimensional games, players start by drawing a certain number of letter tiles from a pool, and replenish them as they are used, until the pool is empty or some other event ends the game. Some variants require or allow drawing extra tiles under certain circumstances. Other variants may give each player an initial stock of tiles. Any of these variants can be adapted to the multidimensional layouts of the present invention. Likewise, any conventional scoring system can be adapted, or alternatives created.

Multidimensional Crossword Puzzles

The same layout methods and procedures can be used to create multidimensional crossword puzzles. An example of a three dimensional layout useful for a crossword puzzle is shown in FIG. 2, using three 3×3 boards. The puzzle has three dimensions—the usual “across” and “down”, and another dimension running between boards, which is called “away” in this example. In a four dimensional puzzle, the fourth dimension might be called “beyond”, as described above—or any convenient name.

Numbering in this figure runs in the conventional fashion on the first board (on the left), and the numbering continues in conventional fashion on each of the other boards. This is only one of several possible numbering systems. The example in FIG. 2 has equivalent numbers of cells (three, in this case) in each of the three dimensions, but that is not required. If a fourth dimension were present, additional rows of boards would preferably be numbered in the same fashion as this example, and as in conventional crossword puzzles—numbering continues across each “lower” horizontal row of cells in the array, numbering from left to right at the beginning of each word, whether horizontal or vertical.

The multidimensional crossword puzzle, like a conventional two dimensional crossword puzzle, is completed by writing or otherwise placing letters in each of the blank spaces to form words, which are at least tangentially related to clues which are supplied with the puzzle. The difference is that in 3 or 4 functional dimensions—typically two physical dimensions and one or two representational dimensions, as shown in FIG. 2—a given letter may participate in three or four different words, rather than the one or two words in a conventional crossword puzzle. In determining what spaces are neighboring, the same rule applies that governs in conventional crossword puzzles and crossword games is preferred: placed letters which are not adjacent in one dimension are not connected to each other in that dimension.

FIG. 2 illustrates the invention, and shows a puzzle after it is solved based on clues. The clue list for the crossword puzzle of FIG. 2 might read:

ACROSS DOWN AWAY 1. Sailboat 1. Take 1. Vehicle 4. Sash 2. Honest    3. Lacemaking 6. Confine 3. Snellum 4. Mouths 10. As to 9. Greek magnate 5. Exist 12. Eura's sister 11. Dash 6. Ingot 13. Decay 13. Tease 7. Bird 15. Stay 14. Play with 8. Negate

This example is in three dimensions, and the general technique is readily extended to four dimensions. To the extent that there are multiple boards, they will tend to be smaller than a conventional two dimensional puzzle, for a similar number of spaces to be filled. The “stacking” procedure described above is suitable for incorporation in a multidimensional puzzle as well as a multidimensional game.

Unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meanings as commonly understood by one of skill in the art to which the disclosed invention belongs. Publications cited herein and the material for which they are cited are specifically incorporated by reference, where such incorporation is permitted. Those skilled in the art will recognize, or be able to ascertain using no more than routine experimentation, many equivalents to the specific embodiments of the invention described herein. Such equivalents are intended to be encompassed by the following claims. 

1. A method of playing a crossword in more than two dimensions, the method comprising: providing a crossword to be played in a form having two physical dimensions and at least one representational dimension; and playing the crossword by placing letters on cells of the crossword to form one or more words, each word lying in a single dimension selected from a physical dimension and a representational dimension.
 2. The method of claim 1 wherein the crossword is a crossword puzzle, and play is made by one player in light of clues.
 3. The method of claim 1 wherein the crossword is a game layout, and at least two players compete in turn to place letters in adjacent cells of a single dimension to form one or more complete words.
 4. The method of claim 1 wherein the crossword has four dimensions.
 5. The method of claim 1 wherein the method allows the use of stacks in the crossword.
 6. The method of claim 1 wherein the method does not recognize connections between cells unless they share a side in a dimension.
 7. A multidimensional crossword game, in which at least two players take turns playing letter tiles in spaces of a layout to make one or more words, characterized in that the layout has at least one physical dimension and at least one representational dimension and at least three dimensions in all.
 8. The game of claim 7, in which the layout has two physical dimensions and one or two representational dimensions.
 9. The game of claim 7, having a rule in which squares on a particular board only form words in combination with letters on other boards of an array when the letters are in cognate cells on a line of vertically or horizontally adjacent boards.
 10. The game of claim 7, having a rule that placed letters which are not adjacent in one dimension are not connected to each other.
 11. The game of claim 7 wherein at least one player is an electronic device.
 12. The game of claim 7 wherein words may be entered in part by stacking pieces in a third physical dimension.
 13. The game of claim 7 wherein the rules of the game do not recognize connections between cells unless they share a side in a dimension.
 14. A crossword puzzle layout, having two physical dimensions, in which a player enters letters in spaces of a crossword puzzle layout to make one or more words in accordance with clues, characterized in that the layout has at least one representational dimension.
 15. The puzzle of claim 14, in which the layout has two representational dimensions.
 16. The puzzle of claim 14, in which the clues are listed in three or more dimensional categories.
 17. The puzzle of claim 14 wherein the game is played on at least one of a personal computer, a touch sensitive screen, and a dedicated electronic device.
 18. The puzzle of claim 14 wherein words may be entered in part by stacking pieces in a third physical dimension.
 19. The puzzle of claim 14 wherein the rules of the game do not recognize connections between cells unless they share a side in a dimension.
 20. The method of claim 1 wherein the crossword has two physical dimensions, one or two representational dimensions, and allows the use of a stack as an additional dimension. 